1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a program generating apparatus, a program generating method and a program generating program (also known as program generator or simply as generator) for generating a program by combining, linking or concatenating structural components of the program in a desired form.
2. Description of Related Art
In the technical field of development of program, there are known numerous and various techniques for enhancing the efficiency of program development by firstly preparing in advance program parts (also referred to as the structural components, structural parts or simply as the components) and by combining the program parts or components in a desired form. Thus, as the environment for the development of program, there can be conceived the environment for aiding or supporting the development of the structural components themselves on one hand and the environment for structurizing the program by combining the structural components. In the environment of the program development for structurizing the program, there is generally adopted a procedure of generating a program by concatenating or linking the components designated by a developer or operator in the manner also designated by the developer.
In this conjunction, it is noted that a technique of automatically selecting the components to be made use of in the program structurization is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 233239/1993 (JP-A-5-233239). According to the procedure taught in this publication, a program can automatically be structured or structurized by optimally selecting linking relations (which may also be referred to as the concatenating relations) between or among the given components. Thus, the program can easily be created or generated even by those who are rather poor in the knowledge concerning the program development technology.
It is however noted that with the environments for the program development known heretofore, it is impossible to aid or support the developer in his or her efforts to realize a program of desired specifications with a proper or appropriate structure by concatenating or linking the pertinent structural parts or components. Further, even in the environment for the program development described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 233239/1993, the number of programs which can be generated with different or various types is limited because the linking relations among the individual components are definitely given in advance. Such being the circumstances, there arise problems that functional consistency can not be sustained in the generated programs, performance thereof undergoes degradation and so forth.